Monday, May 2, 2016

Trump Flops in Arizona Delegate Fight

Donald Trump's campaign got burned again Saturday in the hunt for loyal delegates to the Republican national convention — this time on turf where he'd recently trounced his rivals in primary elections.

Though the mogul's campaign showed more muscle than ever in this shadow primary, he walked away in defeat in Arizona — losing about 40 of the 55 delegate slots that were up for grabs on the day. That's despite a dominant primary win there on March 22 and a furious attempt by supporters to guarantee the election of allies to the national convention.

Instead, it was Ted Cruz who emerged with the bulk of support from the state's delegates. Though all of Arizona's delegates are bound to vote for Trump on the first vote at the national convention, most are likely to flip to Cruz if Trump is unable to clinch the nomination.

And Cruz wasn't done racking up victories on Trump's turf. In Virginia, where Trump beat Cruz by a two-to-one margin in a March 1 primary, Cruz's forces captured at least 10 of the 13 delegates on the ballot. The Texas senator won 18 of 24 delegates in local Missouri conventions, even though Trump won that state on primary day as well.